Red Dragon (1965)

A Masterpiece!

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Fairly dull affair regarding the Feds trying to uncover a Chinese smuggling racket. Granger is good in his role as the Federal agent called out of vacation to unravel the nefarious organization. The ravishing Rosanna Schiaffino as Granger's assistant and location shooting in Hong Kong rescued this from an early sign off. The plot is too predictable and the bad guys just aren't menacing enough. Not awful but not a top choice in this genre.

Unlike another spy film starring Stewart Granger that was made around the same period, "Requiem For A Secret Agent", "Red Dragon" aka "Code Name Alpha" has no serious ambitions beyond providing a time-filler - and that's what it does: nothing more, nothing less. Granger is one of the better actors to star in this type of movie, and he gives the project some authority. Rosanna Schiaffino is a competent female lead, not just the love interest but an almost equal spy partner as well. However, there is little in either the script or the direction of this movie to make it stand out from the crowd; the identity of the No. 1 villain is not much of a surprise when it is revealed. My print is pretty washed-out so it probably doesn't do justice to the film's location shooting around Hong Kong. ** out of 4.

A West German-Italian spy knockoff in the wake of James Bond, 1965's "Red Dragon" (a Woolner Brothers release in America) imports British star Stewart Granger as an FBI agent from San Francisco who journeys to Hong Kong to infiltrate an international smuggling ring, aided by the ravishing Rosanna Schiaffino as Carol, who replaces a recently murdered agent working with coded messages by teletype. The by-the-numbers plot starts out slow and offers few surprises but patient viewers will manage after the first half hour. The 51-year-old Granger seems just a bit too old to be convincing as the two-fisted hero, but the Italian beauty Rosanna proves she would have made an excellent Bond girl had she been given the opportunity. Shot on location in Hong Kong by a mostly German crew, including actors Horst Frank (as the chief assassin) and Suzanne Roquette, who would also appear together in another Hong Kong-lensed German feature in 1967, "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu," starring Christopher Lee. "Red Dragon" would air only once on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Feb 7 1970, followed by second feature 1960's "Atom Age Vampire." Rosanna Schiaffino also appeared in 1966's "The Witch," opposite another British star, Richard Johnson, as well as Edgar G. Ulmer's last film, "The Cavern." Other foreign spies that were shown on Chiller Theater include "Shadow of Evil" (1964, Kerwin Matthews), "OSS 117 Mission for a Killer" (1965, Frederick Stafford), "OSS 117 Double Agent" (1968, John Gavin), "M. M. M. 83" (1965, Fred Beir), "Spy in Your Eye" (1965, Dana Andrews), and "Lightning Bolt" (1965, Anthony Eisley).

Here's a rather bland spy thriller that will pass before your eyes without making much of an impact. One would think that Stewart Granger would make a fine secret agent but he comes across as more of a jerk than anything else. The first time we see him, he's on vacation, sitting on his living room floor playing with his model train set that brings him his liquor. I guess that's appropriate somehow, the guy sitting home alone getting plastered. He certainly couldn't have many friends since he's condescending to everyone except pretty girls.The film boasts a Riz Ortalani score but even that doesn't help much. If your cup of tea is to listen to Stewart Granger belittle the Chinese for using chopsticks then by all means, have at it.